Shoah Part 2 - Objects and Memory Flashcards
s. 5.1 of course
Where did the rusted milk-churn relic come from?
Warsaw Ghetto
What did the milk-churn contain?
diaries, posters, documents and papers documenting life in the Warsaw Ghetto
Who conceived the idea and buried the milk-churn?
Emanuel Ringelblum (1900 - 1944)
When was the milk-churn buried and under what circumstances?
Warsaw Ghetto uprising in 1943
where is the milk-churn now exhibited?
Washington Holocaust Memorial Museum
Why did Weinberg & Elieli refer to this as ‘perhaps the Museum’s most important historic artefact’?
scale of the tragedy of the Warsaw Ghetto - gave details of life there
Before the war - how many Jewish people lived in Warsaw?
375,000 - 30% of the population
Where did the people come from who were forced to live in the Ghetto?
towns and countryside around Poland
How many people died of starvation in the ghettos?
approximately 10% of inhabitants
What were the dates of the Uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto
January 1943 - April 1943
Why was there an uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto?
increasing maltreatment of the Jews including mass deportations to the Treblinka extermination camp in July - September 1942
How was the uprising defeated?
systematic firing of the ghetto
what happened after the Warsaw ghetto uprising
raised to the ground - area turned into a concentration camp for the survivors who were then deported to Treblinka and murdered
Who was Ringelblum?
a university professor and historian
When were the milk-churns discovered?
only 2 found one in 1946 and 1 December 1950
where is the milk-churn discovered in 195- now?
Holocaust Memorial Museum Washington
How is the milk-churn displayed?
in front of a fibreglass facsimile of a section of wall from the Warsaw Ghetto which survived
How does the display of the milk-churn create meaning and emotional impact?
sand and earth adhere to it - representing its hiding place underground
displayed on its own
meaning supplied by the museum via captions, audio guide, catalogue information
How does the museum display create meaning for the milk-churn?
framed by two huge photographs
left hand side - Jewish people with yellow stars on their coats
Right-hand side - bridge from the Lodz ghetto
What is the effect of the display of the milk-churn?
being there - as a witness of the forced separation of people
threatening sense of being channelled into a narrow corridor - physical sense of anxiety
Who was the founding director of the Holocaust museum in Washington?
Jeshajahu Weinberge
How does the founding director explain the importance of authentic objects?
a direct link to the events
‘silent witnesses’
Name a reconstruction housed in the Holocaust museum and what is it’s impact?
gate to the main camp as Auschwitz - not authentic but chilling stage prop which puts the visitor in the shoes of the victims of the holocaust
what is the most obvious kind of object commemorating an absent person
tomb
with photo, textual inscription, religious symbol
What is meant when it is said that a tomb needs human nourishment?
relatives and friends to keep the grave clean, replenish flowers
How do memorials retain meaning?
regular ceremonies and participation of people for whom the memorial has meaning
What do memories in the brain require if they are to be remembered
stories
How can memories be maintained
memories can fade unless rehearsed - particularly with others
shared memories are important in the maintenance of memories
who argues that all memories, including personal memories are social because without the opportunities for exchange and rehearsal they fade?
Sociologist Maurice Halbwachs (1980)
Why are memories often seen as unreliable?
construct memories around what we think should have happened as well as what we think we heard or saw
what are memories often attached to?
objects - they stimulate memory
who said that processes of forgetting are necessary if people are to ‘move on’ after painful experiences?
Forty and Kuchler (1999)
how do memories of the departed change?
from reflection on loss to celebration of happier times
why does collective memory make it difficult to forget?
tensions especially where involve acts of war and genocide
Why has it taken so long for the widespread memorialisation of the Shoah to develop?
due to questions of guilt, blame, compensation and criminal proceedings
How many memorials were there in 2010 in Berlin?
312
simple plaques to full-scale museums
What other term is used for collective memory?
social memory
what is collective memory?
communities may share collective myths or stories, of which each individual may have some direct experience but which goes beyond personal memories
what objects can help preserve and rehearse collective memory?
Objects, museum displays, photographs, films, novel, memorials with associated ceremonies
What did the French historian Pierre Nora argue in relation to collective memory?
oral traditions in rural communities keep social memory alive
What did Pierre Nora say in relation to why collective memory might be lost?
mass migration to cities leaving a vacuum
What did Pierre Nora suggest to protect collective memory?
he founded a project for historians to write about ‘places of memory’ - creating a sense of identity
What puts national identity under stress according to Pierre Nora?
wars and sporting events - compounded in the face of racist ideologies and definitions of ethnicity
What concern did American Professor of Religion and Culture, Eduard Linenthal express?
the millions of individual deaths of the Holocaust would be lost in a story of mass death and a fascination with the technique of destruction
What did the Holocaust Museum in Washington consider when looking to represent the story of mass death?
wanted visitors to be as bystanders - therefore created a link with the faces of Holocaust victims - whilst painful would provide individual representation
What did the Holocaust Museum in Washington create to show both mass death and individual deaths?
The Tower of Faces in one of the three-storey towers in the museum
What does the Tower of Faces represent and where did they come from?
1000 photographs from the Yaffa Eliach Shtetl Collection taken between 1890 and 1941
What is the history of the faces in the Tower of Faces?
Jewish community in Ejszyski, Lithuania wiped out by SS death squad on 25-26 September 1941. Of 4000 Jews only 29 were left alive
Who created the collection which makes up the Tower of Faces in the Holocaust museum in Washington?
Dr Yaffa Eliach - survivor from Jewish community in Ejszyski. Pictures of those from the community between 1900 and 1944
How are the images presented in the Tower of Faces?
images are presented with all the scratches and dust marks transmitted through the processes of copying and enlarging personal photographs
where can similar displays such as the Tower of Faces be seen?
Yad Vashem centre in Jerusalem - designed by the architect Moshe Safdie
Memorial de la Shoah in Paris
What do the Tower of Faces look to achieve?
to pause and reflect - recognising the huge numbers but realising that each was an individual lost.
